Mengen- und Spurenelemente vol.17: pp. 525-535, 1997

Prenatal protein-energy malnutrition: its effects on mineral concentrations in rats' brain

Balatincz, J., Ajtony, Z., Tamásy, V.

Effects of prenatal protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) were studied on neonatally rehabilitated CFY rats. Behavioral tests of peripubertal (5 wk-old), young adult (2 mo-old) and aged (10 mo-old) rats revealed sex-related lasting effects of prenatal PEM on the locomotor activity, exploratory behavior and emotionality concomitantly with impaired learning and poor memory retrieval. Neonatal vitamin E treatment attenuated vulnerability of the developing brain and facilitated nutritional rehabilitation. Results of ICP-AES and GFAAS indicated that concentration of trace elements (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd) in the hippocampus was rather influenced by aging than prenatal starvation. However, neonatal vitamin E treatment occurred to modify hippocampal Cu, Ca and Zn content in aged PEM rats. Restoration of learning ability, and modification of hippocampal trace element accumulation by alpha-tocopherol support the view that the perinatally damaged CNS possesses remarkable functional and biochemical plasticity.

(Copyright Verlag Harald Schubert, Leipzig, 1. Auflage 1997, all rigths reserved)

ISBN 3-929526-41-7; ISSN 1430-9637;